David Beckham's new tattoo. A Latin phrase, of course!

This just in! The international soccer sensation and tattoo icon David Beckham added a new Latin phrase to his repertoire: De integro. "Telegraph" translates "De Integro" as "Again from the start". Fair enough. What's more interesting, the footballer's lovely wife Victoria followed suit with the exact copy of her husband's new motto.

One needs to realize that the Greek and Latin courses are strikingly different. I believe, the Latin one is older. It resembles other Assimil courses designed for modern languages. Le Latin Sans Peine operates under a whimsical assumption that a somewhere a country exists where one frequently hears conversations such as this:

- Quanti costat locusta?- Decem francis!- Nimio constat.

If you happen to concur with the writers of this textbook, and also happen to know where knowledge of this kind of Latin might serve you well, good luck and bon voyage. Even as the course progresses you do not see much in terms of real Classical Latin that you perhaps wish to read one day. This is the same problem that exists the Rosetta Stone Latin course exhibits. At least in Assimil there is enough wit and solid grammar.

The Greek Assimil course is more in tune with the needs of Classical education. The audio tracks sound almost eerily authentic. I am no expert, but it sure seems that if you want to learn Attic pronunciation this is one of the best ways to do it.

As far as I know, these two courses are not available in English. It would be great to see them translated, especially the Greek one. And even if you don't know French, but are serious about learning Ancient Greek listening to the audio tracks would probably be most beneficial.

Fidelity of the people of Cornwall

An inscription on a sun-dial at the church porch of St. Levan, Cornwall:

SlCUT UMBRA TRANSEUNT DIES. As the shadow pass the days.

The church is rich in old oak, and also possesses a fragmentary copy of the letter of thankswritten by King Charles I. to his people of Cornwallfor their fidelity, dated from his camp at Sudeley Castle,1643, and ordered to be printed, published, and read in every church or chapel in Cornwall, and to bekept for ever as a record of their king's gratitude.

(From The Book of Sun-dials)

I like how the letter thanking the people of Cornwall for their fidelity was ordered to be read. Surely, many were punished for not properly heeding its warm tone, or worse, not attending the special gathering of loyal subjects. And if they somehow forget about the King's gratitude, the letter should conveniently remind them of it.

Kathleen Coleman's short-lived experience as a consultant for the movie "Gladiator" is especially amusing:

She recalled one exchange between the filmmakers in a 2005 Financial Times article: “Kathy, we need to get a piece of evidence which proves that women gladiators had sharpened razor blades attached to their nipples. Could you have it by lunchtime?”

“That was not a very good experience for her,” department administrator Teresa T. Wu said. “I think she won’t work with Hollywood again.”

I sure hope this article does not result in more people calling the Classics Department with questions they could have resolved otherwise.